Filament guide for Prusa i3

thingiverse

My filament box sits on a shelf above and off to the side of the printer, with no kind of guide the filament flops all over the place clacking against the printer frame etc. I don't think there is much risk of it getting caught but its annoying none the less. I tried a few guides that are just prints with a hole for the filament to go through etc, but generally find there is too much friction as the filament goes through, which can make extra annoying noises during operation. My solution was to create a guide with ball bearings and guide wheels to provide a very smooth action with no noise and friction. This is my second revision and I feel its vastly better than the first. With this one I can put the spool almost anywhere and it works really well. The required hardware are m3 screws, 1x20mm button, 2x6mm button, 2x8mm button, 5x10mm button, 1x12mm tapered, 2x16mm tapered. Also uses 5x 5x11x4mm, and 1x 12x18x4mm bearings(Common on Traxxas RC's). The main arm screw holes are 20mm apart, you could design a bracket for likely any other printer to attach the main arm to. I printed everything at .20mm and it all fits together nicely on my printer, your results may vary. You will need to print 5 of the wheels and 2 of the filament guide frame arms. Assembly: 1) Use 1x20mm button screw to attach the lower rear plate and pivot assembly arm to the main arm, the screw goes closest to the edge of the plate with the nub on the arm going into the more centered hole in the plate. This screw should be nice and snug. 2) Put the bearings in the wheels, you want a snug fit here, might have to print extras and use the tightest ones. 3) Press the bearings with wheels onto each of the 3 mounts on the lower rear plate 4) Put the lower front plate on and secure with the 3 10mm button screws. 5) Press the 12x18x4 bearing onto the pivot base, then press the pivot top onto that. 6) Assemble the upper bearing frame and arms, use the pictures for reference. The screws into the small arms should not be tight, the arms should be able to rotate freely. The arms can take up to 8mm button screws. 7) Join this assembly to the pivot top with 2x6mm button screws. 8) Attach the main arm to the frame bracket with the 2 16mm tapered screws. These screws should be snug. Notes: Any of the screws can be a few mm shorter if that's what you have, but the specified lengths are the max for the holes. Other than the 20mm and the 16mm screws on the frame bracket, most don't need to be terribly tight.